During the first week of school, we worked as a class to think of our most
important hopes and dreams for the school year. In order to create a climate
where all students can achieve their goals, we created a list of
responsibilities which each students must follow.
Below are the responsibilities that we agreed on in order to have a successful
year:
1. Respect yourself
2. Respect others.
3. Respect our school.
We recognize that no one can be expected to follow the rules 100% of the time. When children make mistakes in following the rules, I’ll help them solve the problems cause by their mistakes through the use of “logical consequences.” Logical consequences are not punishments. They are ways to help children see the effects of their actions, repair the situation, and learn to do better next time.
There are three basic kinds of logical consequences:
Take a break: If a child is losing self control, s/he goes to a designated spot in the room to cool off. The break is short. This gives students an opportunity to cool off and observe the class. It gives them the chance to make better choices.
Loss of privilege: If a child misuses a material or acts out during an activity, s/he will be told to stop using the material or doing the activity for a short period of time. The privilege will be restored when the child and teacher have talked about how to prevent a similar problem in the future.
“You break it, you fix it”: If a child damages something or hurts another’s feelings, s/he will try to fix the damage. In the case of hurting another’s feelings, the child might offer an apology of action-writing a card, helping with an activity, making an illustration, or taking some other action beyond verbally saying sorry.
My goal is to help children believe in their ability to create a caring learning environment. Learning to live by the rules they’ve created is an important step. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. J